O’side hiker, 60, rescued from mountain

PALM SPRINGS  A 60-year-old Oceanside man who became lost Sunday after climbing to the peak of Mount San Jacinto near Palm Springs was found just before midnight by state parks employees and Riverside County sheriff’s volunteers.

The man’s family reported him missing about 7:30 p.m., and a mountain rescue team was quickly assembled, state parks spokesman Todd Friedman said Monday in a news release. The team took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the Mount San Jacinto State Park station at 8,516 feet and began the search, Friedman said.

He said the hiker was found a few hundred feet off of the Round Valley Trail. He told his rescuers he had made it to the mountain’s peak at 10,834 feet and was returning when he got lost as darkness fell, Friedman said.

The man, whose name was not released, had decided to stay there when he realized he was lost and built a fire for the night, Friedman said.

The trail to the peak is 12 miles round trip and begins at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway’s mountain station.

The hiker and his rescue team made it down the mountain to Palm Springs at 6:30 a.m. Monday after the tram opened.